The present invention relates to a device for damping the transverse and hunting movements of a vehicle.
The invention relates to any vehicle, in particular a road or rail vehicle, provided with a housing resting on two members disposed longitudinally at a distance from one another and free to move transversely relative to this housing. For the purposes of the invention, the terms longitudinal and transverse are to be assessed relative to the movement of the vehicle.
In the railway sector, such a vehicle comprises, for example, a car resting on two bogies, respectively front and rear bogies. During movements of this car, the housing possesses a degree of transverse deflection relative to the bogies and is additionally subjected to an angular movement known as hunting. The latter is due to the pivoting of the whole of the housing about a vertical axis, which lies between the front and rear bogies, substantially in the medium longitudinal axis of the vehicle. These movements, whether transverse or hunting, are a source of discomfort or may threaten to jeopardize the safety of the equipment. It is therefore necessary to fit the vehicle with a permanent device for damping such movements.
FR-A-2,252,228 has disclosed a device for damping the transverse movements of the housing relative to the bogies. This device comprises two jacks assigned to one of the bogies, each of these jacks defining two chambers whose respective volumes vary as a function of the relative transverse movement between the bogie and the housing. These chambers are connected in pairs by means of hydraulic lines in which are fitted valves for controlling the fluid flow.
This solution, however, has a disadvantage in that it is necessary to fit two devices as described above, to to the front and rear bogies of the vehicle, respectively. No coupling between the front and rear is utilized, which makes it impossible to optimize the damping of the hunting movement of the housing.